Management Control and Union Power

The British coal mining industry has been at the forefront in the use of modern management control techniques. This systematic evaluation of its failures and successes provides important lessons for the development and implementation of control strategies in industry in general. The authors describe the processes of labour management employed at each level of the coal mining industry, evaluate their success in management terms and review the wider, frequently unanticipated consequences of their adoption. The text also analyzes the response of the workforce and its union, the National Union of Mineworkers, over a period of time from the mid-1970s to the aftermath of the 1984-5 strike. This study will be of interest to students and academics in industrial relations, organizational behaviour, management, business studies and labour economics.